


Like an incantation

by ToxicPineapple



Category: Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Bonding, Conversations, F/M, Fluff, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 12:59:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17725637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToxicPineapple/pseuds/ToxicPineapple
Summary: "When Mukuro chuckles, I feel a surge of satisfaction, like I got a medal or something, even though it's barely a laugh. Either way, she's always so poker faced, like she's focusing completely on one goal and ignoring everything else. It's nice to see her smiling like that, with the smile touching her eyes."---Makoto is enjoying a quiet moment in the library. Mukuro joins him.





	Like an incantation

 

I'm not usually a big reader (well, at least not extraordinarily so), but to be honest, I'm getting a bit of cabin fever from having resided within the school walls for five months, so I'm in desperate need of something to occupy my time. Since Sayaka is spending time with the girls today, I really don't have very much to do. After all, the other guys are all busy doing something or other, and I don't want to intrude.

 

 

That's why I'm sitting in the library with a book in my lap as the door opens and somebody soundlessly moves inside. I look up, pressing my thumb against the bindings of the novel to hold my page, and meet the clear grey eyes of one of my classmates, Mukuro Ikusaba.

 

 

...though, I suppose she's more than just a "classmate", now that we all live here together. Five months and I'm still not really used to this.

 

 

I smile at her, and her eyebrows lift almost imperceptibly, but she smiles back, looking like she doesn't do it very much. Her eyes flit around the library and her shoulders seem to relax. I'm not sure what she was looking for, in any case. Maybe to see if somebody else was there. That seems to make sense. Mukuro isn't really a people person.

 

 

"Hi, Ikusaba san." I greet her with a slight tilt of my head as she drops (light as a feather, like usual) into the seat in front of me. She has a very graceful manner, almost as though she isn't even there. I guess that helps her, since she's a soldier, and all.

 

 

"Naegi." She responds curtly, without an honorific. It's okay, anyway, because I'm not too worried about honorifics. Mukuro looks tentative, and I'm not sure that she knows how to continue the conversation, but maybe that she kind of wants to.

 

 

Well, I'm good at small talk, anyway. "Aren't all the girls at the pool today?" I ask. I don't know why I'm asking, though, because I know events like that aren't Mukuro's scene. Especially not now, considering the fact that the world is ending outside the steel plates we put over the windows.

 

 

She purses her lips and looks to the side, her pale cheeks reddening a little. It's... honestly very cute.

 

 

"Yes, they are." Always so formal... I wonder if she's ever been comfortable relaxing around anybody. "But I did not feel inclined to join them, despite Asahina's invitation."

 

 

I mark my page in my book and close it gently. "That's okay. Hina chan can be a little overbearing at times, even though she means well." I wouldn't have declined, if it were me, but really I have a difficult time saying no to anybody. Especially my classmates.

 

 

"It isn't that, necessarily." There, that's a little less formal. Maybe she's getting more comfortable. "I guess I just wasn't feeling very outgoing today."

 

 

"Is your sister with them?" For some reason, Mukuro frowns when I mention Junko.

 

 

She hesitates. "Of course."

 

 

"Then maybe that's it." I say. "I don't always want to spend time with Komaru, and Enoshima san is the younger twin, right? Younger sisters are a pain, so maybe you just want some breathing room."

 

 

When Mukuro chuckles, I feel a surge of satisfaction, like I got a medal or something, even though it's barely a laugh. Either way, she's always so poker faced, like she's focusing completely on one goal and ignoring everything else. It's nice to see her smiling like that, with the smile touching her eyes.

 

 

"You seem close to your sister," she notes. I wait for her to continue. She doesn't. So I speak.

 

 

"Yeah, I mean, I guess." I frown though, because I miss Komaru, even if she can be annoying sometimes. "We're close like any brother and sister are, really."

 

 

"Not everybody has that." Mukuro points out, like she's stating a fact. "Closeness to their sibling, I mean." As she fusses with the ribbon on her school uniform, it occurs to me that she might be talking about Junko. But that's impossible, because... because Junko and Mukuro are so close.

 

 

I try to figure out how to respond to that, because it feels insensitive now. "Oh, yeah. You're right." I consider it. "I do love Komaru. And... I miss her. I feel bad that we couldn't take our families with us into the school."

 

 

"The resources that Headmaster Kirigiri manages to provide for us are... overwhelming." Mukuro supplies thoughtfully. "It is strange that he would only use that for our survival, rather than expediting that. We could save more people with our families locked within the school. But we have things that our families do not."

 

 

Right. Our families aren't Ultimates.

 

 

I run a hand through my hair, somewhat frustrated to feel that one piece of hair that always sticks up popping right up after I push it down.

 

 

"I hope they're okay." I say quietly. "Our families, I mean. I don't have much idea what's going on out there." I have to stay positive about this. That's all I have- all I'm good for.

 

 

Mukuro appraises me, her expression once again a mask of thought. Then, she reaches out, and takes my hand, her fingers intertwining with mine on the table. The action is small, and probably just to comfort me, but it still makes my heart race. I can't really put a thought together- just... I've never noticed how pale she is, until now. Her fingers are long and thin but callused, from years of work. Scarless. It's her left hand, so it's not the one she has a tattoo on. But I've seen the tattoo before.

 

 

"I'm not super close to my parents." She tells me. Mukuro has always been very straightforward. She doesn't say a lot, but what she does say, she means it. "But I know you love yours, and I'm sure that they're okay. If they're anything like you, then nothing will touch them. Their silly optimism will keep them alive for a ridiculously long time."

 

 

I tell myself these things to help me sleep at night (with different words) but hearing it from her is different. "Ikusaba san..." I trail off.

 

 

"Mukuro." She mutters.

 

 

"Huh?"

 

 

"Call me Mukuro, if you'd like." Now she really _is_ blushing. Her pale complexion makes it really easy to see the blood that's rushed to her cheeks. I'm not sure what to make of it, but... I feel my heart fluttering, and it sort of approves, so I smile at her and squeeze her hand.

 

 

"Okay. Then you can call me Makoto." I respond. I don't think I need to tell her that she doesn't have to use an honorific; she already doesn't pay much attention to that sort of thing. "Mukuro," I add, testing out the name for myself. When I say it out loud, it somehow becomes tangible. Real. Like dumping a bottle of ink onto a white page and watching as the little tendrils of black crawl into the corners of the paper. I can't bring it back into my mouth, and I don't want to, either.

 

 

Her gaze is somewhat searching when she looks at me, and I don't know what she finds, but her eyes flutter closed and then open again, her lips drawing into a smile.

 

 

"Makoto." She says my name, too, like it's something special, something powerful. I feel it working its way into my heart. My name is common, and average; you can't throw a stone in Japan without hitting a person named Makoto. But when Mukuro says it, it feels bigger.

 

 

I don't say anything. I let it sit there, between us, making the air in the library smell impossibly sweet. If I listen, I can hear the silence reverberating through my skull. But Mukuro's voice saying my name is on repeat in my brain. It sounds like an incantation, one word, said over and over again forever.

 

 

A protective spell, maybe.

 

 

Or a love spell.

**Author's Note:**

> I knowww, it's so fluffy and sweet and not angsty at all. Totally not like me. But I'm easing my way into this fandom one inch at a time, damn it. And this ship wrecks me. It's all of my favourite cliches put into one ball of fluffiness and angst and yes please,,
> 
> I do like a bunch of other ships, especially Naegiri. But this one makes me happy because it's just... hnnn. Anyway, hope you enjoyed. I wrote this late at night so if there are any typos, I apologise. Have an excellent evening, pals.


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